Man shot and killed in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis police reported that a man was shot and killed early Thursday in Minneapolis.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the northern part of the city and found a man with a gunshot wound. Police and paramedics provided him medical aid, but he died at the scene.

Authorities believe the man was in his 20s, but have not released his identity.

Court: Ex-officer can rescind plea

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A former suburban Milwaukee police officer convicted of killing two women during sex and stuffing their corpses into suitcases can keep trying to withdraw his guilty plea in one of the cases, a Wisconsin appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Steven Zelich, of West Allis, pleaded guilty in 2016 to reckless homicide and hiding a corpse in 19-year-old Jenny Gamez’s death four years earlier. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2017 in 37-year-old Laura Simonson’s death in Minnesota in 2013.

Prosecutors said Zelich met the women online, got together with them at hotels — Gamez in Kenosha, Simonson in Rochester — and choked them to death during sex. He then stuffed their bodies in suitcases and dumped them in a ditch in Kenosha County.

He was sentenced to 35 years in prison in the Wisconsin case and 25 years in the Minnesota case.

Zelich filed a post-conviction motion seeking to withdraw his guilty plea in the Wisconsin case. He argued that he pleaded guilty only after Judge Bruce Schroeder decided Wisconsin prosecutors could introduce evidence from the Minnesota case and his attorney mistakenly informed him he could challenge that ruling on appeal.

Iowa adds 41 virus deaths

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa added 41 COVID-19 deaths Thursday as three more long-term care facilities reported virus outbreaks.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 3,331 new positive COVID-19 cases as of 10 a.m. to bring the total to 222,278. The latest deaths raised the pandemic total to 2,312, KCCI reports.

Long-term care facilities have been particularly hard hit, with cases in them accounting for 1,038 of the state’s 2,312 deaths.

Health department data also shows fewer Iowa counties are reporting a 14-day positivity rate greater than 15%. There are now 88 counties with a rate at 15% or higher, down from 91 the day before. Schools in those counties can apply for a waiver to provide 100% distance instruction.